Wire hanger attachment

ABSTRACT

AN ATTACHMENT IS PROVIDED TO BE UTILIZED IN PAIRS, ONE ON EACH SIDE OF A CONVENTIONAL COAT HANGER, TO FUNCTION AS A STOP MEANS FOR EACH SHOULDER STRAP OF A GARMENT. EACH ATTACHMENT COMPRISES AN ELONGATED STRIP OF THIN, FLEXIBLE MATERIAL WITH FIRST AND SECOND CIRCULAR HOLES DISPOSED NEAR OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE STRIP WITH A CUT RUNNING PARALLEL TO THE STRIP SIDE BETWEEN THE TWO HOLES ENTERING EACH APPROXIMATELY TANGENTIALLY. INTERMEDIATE ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE CUT, A WIDENED PORTION IS PROVIDED TO FACILITATE INTRODUCTION OF THE ATTACHMENT ONTO THE HANGER. EACH OF THE PAIR OF ATTACHMENTS IS PUSHED ONTO ONE HANGER CORNER AND SLID INWARDLY UNTIL THE HORIZONTAL AND ANGLED WIRE PORTIONS SNAP INTO PLACE IN THE TWO HOLES.   D R A W I N G

March 13, 1973 R. J. BUSHON 3,720,357

WIRE HANGER ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 17, 1971 T1 (2 INVENTOIZ RICHARD J. BUSHON United States Patent Ofice 3,720,357 WIRE HANGER ATTACHMENT Richard J. Bushon, 113 Palo Verde, Superior, Ariz. 85273 Filed Feb. 17, 1971, Ser. No. 115,986

Int. Cl. A47j 51 /08 U.S. Cl. 223-85 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An attachment is provided to be utilized in pairs, one on each side of a conventional coat hanger, to function as a stop means for each shoulder strap of a garment. Each attachment comprises an elongated strip of thin, flexible material with first and second circular holes disposed near opposite ends of the strip with a cut running parallel to the strip side between the two holes entering each approximately tangentially. Intermediate along the length of the cut, a widened portion is provided to facilitate introduction of the attachment onto the hanger. Each of the pair of attachments is pushed onto one hanger corner and slid inwardly until the horizontal and angled wire portions snap into place in the two holes.

This invention relates to wire hanger attachments and, more particularly, to an attachment to be utilized in pairs snapped into position on a wire hanger to prevent garments with shoulder straps from slipping olf the hanger. Certain types of garments, particularly dresses with m'de necks and shoulder straps, have an annoying tendency to slip off conventional wire hangers when the hanger is inadvertently tilted even slightly or the garment is touched as, for example, when adjacent garments are being handled. Various modifications have been proposed to the conventional wire hanger to overcome this tendency such as the provision of a surface which tends to frictionally engage the supporting shoulder straps of the garment. However, these modifications do not function adequately in practice and, further, the conventional wire hanger is sufiiciently ubiquitous that it would be highly desirable to provide an inexpensive attachment to the wire hanger which overcomes this specific drawback.

It is therefore a broad object of my invention to provide an attachment for a conventional wire hanger to prevent garments from inadvertently slipping off.

It is a more specific object of my invention to provide such an attachment to be utilized in pairs to provide stop means to prevent each individual shoulder strap of a garment from sliding off a hanger.

It is a still further object of my invention to provide such an attachment which is simple and economical to make and very easy to use.

The subject matter pf the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates the manner in which the attachment of the present invention is utilized with a conventional wire hanger to constrain a garment in position on the hanger;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the attachment of the present invention illustrating in particular the configuration of the openings therethrough;

- 'FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 illustrates the manner in which the attachment according to the present invention is fitted to a hanger.

3,720,357 Patented Mar. 13, 1973 Referring now to FIG. 1, it will be observed that a garment 1 with shoulder straps 2 and 3 and a relatively wide neck 4 is supported on a conventional wire hanger 5 which has the usual angled portions 6 and 7 and connecting horizontal portion 8. A pair of attachments 9 according to the present invention are scured in position, respectively, between the angled portion 6 and the horizontal portion 8 and the angled portions 7 and the horizontal portion 8 of the wire hanger 5 to function as stops preventing the shoulder straps 2 and 3 from slipping olf the hanger.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 2 which illustrates the attachment 9 in detail. The attachment consists of an elongated flattened strip, preferably of a sturdy pliable material such as acrylic, perforated with circular openings 10 and 11 respectively proximate opposite ends of the attachment. The diameter of the holes 10 and 11 may be on the order of M; inch or slightly less to approximate the wire diameter of the conventional wire hanger. Referring simultaneously to FIGS. 2 and 3, a slot 12 passes completely through the thickness of the attachment 9 and couples the holes 10 and 11. It will be observed that the slot 12 is oifset from the longitudinal center line of the attachment 9 such that it enters each of the holes 10 and 11 very nearly tangentially and runs parallel to the edge of the attachment. Intermediate along the length of the slot 12, an enlarged width slot portion 13 is provided to facilitate introduction of the attachment 9 onto a wire hanger which is carried out in the following manner.

As shown in FIG. 4, the enlarged width slot portion 13 of the attachment 9 is introduced over an end 14 of the wire hanger 5 forming the junction between the angled portion 6 and the horizontal portion 8 of the wire hanger. The attachment 9 is then manually pulled inwardly until the hole 10 snaps onto the angled portion 6 of the wire hanger 5 and the hole 11 snaps onto the horizontal portion 8. The attachment 9 will tend to assume a slight angle with respect to the horizontal portion 8 as best shown in FIG. 1 because of the interchange of mechanical stresses between the side walls of the holes 10 and 11 and the hanger portions 6 and 8. Offsetting the slot 12 to one side of the center line of the attachment 9, as best shown in FIG. 2, insures that the attachment 9 will snap into position more securely than if the slot 12 connected the holes 10 and 11 radially.

While the principles of the invention have now been made clear in an illustrative embodiment, there will be immediately obvious to those skilled in the art many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, the elements, materials, and components, used in the practice of the invention which are particularly adapted for specific environments and operating requirements without departing from those principles.

I claim:

1. A wire hanger attachment to be utilized in pairs for preventing garments from falling off a conventional triangular shaped wire hanger, each attachment of the pair functioning as a stop on one side of a hanger for one of the garment shoulder straps supported thereon, each attachment comprising:

(a) an elongated, flattened strip of pliable material,

said strip having first and second ends;

(b) first and second holes through the thickness of said strip proximate, respectively, said first and second ends, each of said holes being disposed generally centrally with respect to the width dimension of said strip; and

(c) an elongated slot cut through the thickness of said strip and extending parallel to the edges of said strip from said first hole to said second hole,

said slot entering said first and second holes tangentially, said slot including a widened central portion, the width of said central portion of said slot adapted to exceed the diameter of a conventional wire hanger, said slot further including end portions symmetrically disposed, respectively, between said central portion and said first and second holes, the width of said end portions of said slot being substantially less than the width of said widened central portion and adapted to be less than the diam- 10 hanger with said first and second holes adapted to frictionally grip upper and lower corner wire portions when in use and said slot end portions being of a width adapted to frictionally grip upper and lower corner wire portions when not in use.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,891,705 6/1959 Gray 22388 JAMES R. BOLER, Primary Examiner C. H. KRIZMANICH, Assistant Examiner 

